2005年NPR美国国家公共电台三月-In Arm Wrestling, Teen Beats Robots Hands

It was woman against machine at an arm-wrestling competition yesterday in San Diego.
"And as soon as we say, go, go ahead."
In one corner, 17-year-old Panna Felsen, a high school studentand amateur¹ robot builder, 5 feet 7 inches tall and 120 pounds, and the other 3 different versions of robotic arms made out of electro-active polymers. Let's just say the robots didn't stand a chance against the young Miss Felsen. The competition was organized by Yoseph Bar-Cohen , a senior researcher at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
"Welcome."
"Thank you and pleased to be here."
"I wonder if you could explain, first of all, exactly what electro-active polymers are and how they work."
"We're talking about effectively plastic when you subject this plastic material to electrical stimulation² , they change shape. For a long time, there have been known as a material that generate³ this kind of response. But not at the level that we started to see lately.Since the early 90s, we started to see growing capability⁴ of these materials. And, but the force was still lagging behind and that's why we have this challenge."
"So, there is something in the way that these electro-active polymers respond that led you to think :"Aha, let's test them out with an arm-wrestling competition."
"That's right. Since we,we started naming them the artificial muscle because of their characteristic response, I thought it would be nice to have a way to measure the advances in this field where we take human as our base line."
"And were they being controlled by people?"
"Well, once the competition started, I counted to 3. They turned it on and left it to do the wrestling. It was not controlled in any way, it was left to turn against the arm of Panna. Of course, Pannna had the complex capability of a human hand as opposed to those arms that all they knew how to do is turn against her arm."
"Aha, that opposable thumb maybe stood her in good stead against the robots."
"That give her quite an advantage of course, and because she has her own ,what we call sensors⁵, sensors that she feel what's going on as opposed to those arms."
"Well, Panna Felsen says she's not very strong, but she made pretty quick work out of these robotic arms.It took her 24 seconds to wring⁶ down the first one; then 4 seconds and then 3 seconds to defeat the last arm. How do you read those results?"
"She got practice on the job, that's one possibility. We could also read it :maybe that this is also the weighting of strength of those arms, that's also a possibility. We still need to do some analysis of what we had here, but the fact that we had arms that just held a little bit is quite an accomplishment⁷."
"Even if it's for 3 seconds."
"Exactly, if you compare that to flight. I don't remember how many seconds a flight, first flight was, but to one that many minutes more than now, we have done yesterday."
"If you are looking for possible future advances in medical science, say, what applications might there be for this technology?"
"Just like we have now artificial organs, like the artificial kidney⁸, artificial heart and so on, I'm hoping to have an added item to the list. That is practical.That will be artificial muscles, maybe some kind of a glove that you wear that can help people that have problem with their hand. It could be an exoskeleton that people can wear maybe and will replace even their wheel-chair. Those are possibilities that you start thinking: maybe this is becoming possible, if we can make those muscle do actual ,those much better than we have them today."
"Well, Mr.Bar-Cohen, thanks for talking with us."
"My pleasure."
Yoseph Bar-Cohen of NASA's Jet-Propulsion Laboratory. He organized the arm-wrestling competition between a human and various robotic arms, which the human, 17-year-old Panna Felsen, won handily yesterday in San Diego.

And there is a photo of Panna Felsen competing against one of the robotic arms at our website, npr.org.
High school senior Panna Felsen, 17, arm wrestles⁹ an artificial arm built by a team from Virginia Tech. It's one of three robotic arms she defeated in Monday's international competition held in San Diego, Calif. NASA/JPL

1 amateur   

adj.业余的，非专业的；n.业余爱好者

参考例句：

• He made an amateur attempt to build a cupboard.他很外行地试做了一个碗柜。
• Although Tom's only an amateur he's a first-class player.虽然汤姆只是个业余爱好者，但却是一流的高手。

2 stimulation   

n.刺激，激励，鼓舞

参考例句：

• The playgroup provides plenty of stimulation for the children.幼儿游戏组给孩子很多启发。
• You don't get any intellectual stimulation in this job.你不能从这份工作中获得任何智力启发。

3 generate   

vt.生成，产生（光、热、电等）导致

参考例句：

• We need someone to generate new ideas.我们需要有人出新主意。
• This book will continue to generate excitement for a long time.这本书将在很长一段时间里继续使人们为之激动。

4 capability   

n.能力；才能；(pl)可发展的能力或特性等

参考例句：

• She has the capability to become a very fine actress.她有潜力成为杰出演员。
• Organizing a whole department is beyond his capability.组织整个部门是他能力以外的事。

5 sensors   

n.传感器，灵敏元件( sensor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• There were more than 2000 sensors here. 这里装有两千多个灵敏元件。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Significant changes have been noted where sensors were exposed to trichloride. 当传感器暴露在三氯化物中时，有很大变化。 来自辞典例句

6 wring   

n.扭绞；v.拧，绞出，扭

参考例句：

• My socks were so wet that I had to wring them.我的袜子很湿，我不得不拧干它们。
• I'll wring your neck if you don't behave!你要是不规矩，我就拧断你的脖子。

7 accomplishment   

n.完成，成就，（pl.）造诣，技能

参考例句：

• The series of paintings is quite an accomplishment.这一系列的绘画真是了不起的成就。
• Money will be crucial to the accomplishment of our objectives.要实现我们的目标，钱是至关重要的。

8 kidney   

n.肾，腰子，类型

参考例句：

• Several of the patients had received kidney transplant.病人中有几位已接受了肾移植手术。
• The operation to transplant a kidney is now fairly routine.肾脏移植手术如今已相当常见。

9 wrestles   

v.（与某人）搏斗( wrestle的第三人称单数 )；扭成一团；扭打；（与…）摔跤

参考例句：

• The book also wrestles with the idea of individualism. 书中也与个人英雄主义的观念进行搏斗。 来自互联网
• He that wrestles with us strengthens our nerves and sharpens our skill. 和我们搏斗的人锻炼了我们的勇气，磨练了我们的技能。 来自互联网